Small Business Bonus

Please ensure that you select the appropriate form, either to make a new application or to complete a review of an existing award:

Make a new application for small business bonus relief

Review an existing award of small business bonus relief

Small Business Bonus from 1 April 2023

Significant changes have been made to the operation of the Small Business Bonus scheme under the terms of the The Non-Domestic Rates (Levying and Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2023

This has seen the introduction of new tapered thresholds and a change in the award entitlement whether you are the ratepayer of one or more than one subject.

If you wish to see an estimate of what Small Business Bonus relief you may be entitled to you can use the Scottish Government calculator to do this. 

Subjects that are unoccupied or used for payday lending will remain ineligible to receive this relief. In addition to this, subjects used wholly or mainly for the following purposes will, from 1 April 2023, no longer be eligible for rates relief through this scheme;

• The accommodation of one or more advertisements
• The provision of facilities for betting
• The provision of one or more parking spaces

For ratepayers of a single subject the following will apply for financial year 2023/24

For ratepayers of more than one subject the following will apply for financial year 2023/24

Reviewing entitlement to relief 

In order to ensure that all ratepayers are given the correct award for financial year 2023/24, a full review of all current awards is being undertaken.

In addition to the legislative changes noted above this will also ensure any changes to your rateable value resulting from the revaluation of the subjects, carried out by the Tayside Valuation Joint Board, is taken into account.

Please note that the review letter will relate to only one subject. If you are the ratepayer of several subjects you will be issued a separate review letter for each award that we are seeking to review and you must complete a separate review for each subject.

If you have been issued a review letter you must complete the following form; failure to do so may result in the relief being cancelled and a bill being issued for payment of the full Rates due.

Complete your small business bonus relief review

Those no longer eligible for relief for 2023/24

Transitional protection, through a cap on the amount payable, is to be given to those that were eligible for relief as at 31st March 2023 but are no longer eligible.

Please see our Transitional Relief 2023 to 2026 section for further information on this.

Small business bonus for financial year 2022/23

When making a new application we will assess if you have any entitlement for the previous financial year.

For financial year 2022/23. the level of relief is based on the combined total rateable value of all subjects within Scotland where the organisation/individual is in rateable occupation or (if empty and unoccupied) entitled to occupy. 

No relief can be granted in respect of any subjects used for pay day lending.

Since 1 April 2020, relief will not be available on unoccupied subjects. Please note that premises that were temporarily closed due to Coronavirus Covid-19 restrictions will still be deemed to be occupied for the purposes of this relief.

For financial year 2022/23 the level of relief which may be awarded is set out below: